Tag Archives: World Series

No matter what happens tonight in Washington, the Mets received a huge break because Major League Baseball and the Players Association reached an agreement that would allow them to pursue outfielder Yoenis Cespedes throughout the offseason. Cespedes’ contract limited the Mets to a five-day window after the World Series to sign him.

According to the original provision, the Mets wouldn’t have been allowed to sign Cespedes until May 15, and by that time he would have been signed. Considering their record, there’s no way the Mets would have been able to reach a deal with Cespedes in those five years.

However, Cespedes in under contract now and the Mets have his undivided attention. With how he has produced, he is worth bringing him back, even if it costs a lot.

If Cespedes leaves, the Mets will have the familiar problem of needing a power bat in the outfield. Michael Cuddyer will be gone after 2016 and Curtis Granderson will be gone in two years. All their young pitchers are under their control for several years, so there will be available money.

Another thing worth noting, when a team reaches the playoffs after a long dry spell, it doesn’t experience the benefit until the next year (2016). With the schedule now out and the Mets in the midst of a crucial series with Washington, people are already looking forward to next year.

If the Mets let Cespedes slide through their fingers, there’s no telling how this would impact ticket sales.

Since joining the Mets, July 31, for minor league pitcher Michael Fulmer, Cespedes is hitting .311 with 13 homers and 31 RBI in 34 games. He’s been an impact player since joining the major leagues, so what he’s doing isn’t a fluke.

Alderson earned his money with the trade, but keeping him is the real coup.

Well, the Mets gave Matt Harvey his rest, 12 days to be exact, and it will be interesting to see how he responds tonight against Boston. Harvey missing a start was a two-part gamble. First, there was skipping him in favor of Logan Verrett. The second part is seeing how he would do on extended rest.

HARVEY: Plenty of rest tonight. (AP)

Harvey has been vocal about his preference working in a conventional five-man rotation where he works on four days rest. He was especially agitated when he lost to the Dodgers in Los Angeles, July 4, while working on eight days rest. On July 20, on nine days rest, he lost in Washington.

Harvey is 1-1 on seven days rest; 6-3 on six days rest; and 3-1 on five days rest. That’s seven losses for Harvey when not working on conventional rest.

When pitchers get too much rest they have a tendency to be overly strong and often overthrow and have a lack of command. You hear it all the time with sinkerball pitchers that they leave the ball up when too strong and need to be a little tired.

As bad as the Red Sox are, they can still hit and the Mets don’t need is for Harvey to be walking hitters in front of guys like David Ortiz.

Harvey has thrown 154 innings this season and including tonight is on schedule to make eight more starts on conventional rest. Assuming he goes seven innings in those games, that’s 56 more or 210 for the season. Using those numbers and how many innings they wanted for him, that leaves zero for the playoffs.

That obviously won’t work.

The Mets’ options are to skip him one or two more times; or severely limit his innings in September. But, with the Mets’ porous bullpen and need to win games – including six more with the Nationals – that’s not a good choice, either.

As the Mets calculate his potential innings for the playoffs, they must figure them through the World Series. They certainly aren’t going to calculate his playoff starts for just the first round. In doing that, the Mets must figure at least six more starts, which is two starts for every playoff round. Of course, they could figure sweeping each round, but this run already has a large dose of fantasy.

The Mets have done a decent job giving Harvey his rest, but not so much limiting his innings. Have I mentioned this before? It goes to not having a concrete program.

Every time Matt Harvey goes to the mound for the Mets, he does so with Dwight Goodenand Tom Seaver-sized expectations. However, he has a long way to go to match the buzz Doc Gooden brought to the Mets, and New York City, during the 1980s.

GOODEN: Meet Doc next week.

With an electric, sizzling fastball and biting breaking ball, posting a “K’’ after each Gooden strikeout became a ritual at Shea Stadium. It was a must-see event at Shea Stadium whenever Gooden started, and a Mets’ victory became expected and he usually delivered.

We knew Gooden was different when he struck out 276 hitters in just 218 innings while posting a 17-9 record with a 2.60 ERA in his 1984 rookie season. However, the following year different morphed into special when he posted the unreal numbers of 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 16 complete games spanning 276.2 innings. He struck out 268 that year and walked only 69.

In 1986, he was 17-6, but made the National League All-Star team for the third straight season (he made it four times), but helped deliver a World Series title to the Mets.

Those were exciting times in New York, and you can relive them with Gooden next Thursday, May 28, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., at Resorts World Casino. General admission is $40 for the event, which includes a Q & A session. A VIP ticket for $100 will entitle you to a meet-and-greet with Gooden where you can obtain autographs.

Regardless of your ticket purchase, you will have a chance to win Mets memorabilia.

New York Mets Report will be feature Gooden next week in an exclusive interview.

I was on the phone with a friend prior to the game and he expressed nervousness about this series with the Yankees, saying he had a feeling “the other shoe is going to fall.”

DeGROM: Rough night. (Getty)

Well, it didn’t fall after Jacob deGrom gave up three homers in tonight’s 6-1 loss to the Yankees. No matter what happens the remainder of the weekend, no shoe will fall. How can it fall after one weekend? Just as you can’t be thinking World Series after the 11-game winning streak, you can’t think the sky is falling after one weekend.

It is too early.

Perhaps it was the cold and deGrom might have had trouble gripping the ball. After all, there were snowflakes falling tonight. I don’t think it was a matter of nerves for deGrom, but simply a bad night. It happens. The driving force behind the winning streak was strong solid pitching. They didn’t get it tonight.

On the flip side, the Mets weren’t able to do anything against Michael Pineda. If you don’t hit, you can’t win. Sometimes, it really is a simple game to figure out.

I’ve never liked interleague play, and other than see if the Mets could make it 12 straight, or who plate umpire Doug Eddings would eject from the game, you had to search for things.

By the way, how did Eddings know to toss Jon Niese? If it really was Niese, maybe he got on Eddings just to get out of the cold. But, if the plate umpire is paying attention to the game – which is what he is supposed to be doing – then how does he know who was riding him? Seriously, does he know these guys by their voices?

If Eddings doesn’t like being yelled at from the dugout, maybe he should do a better job calling balls and strikes. Just a suggestion. When an umpire is that sensitive to criticism, they say he has rabbit ears – and the chiding won’t end.

That’s one of my criticisms about umpiring. It’s a long season, so there’s plenty of time to get into that subject. It’s also a long season, so there’s no reason to get excited about one bad game.

However, there was some encouraging things to take from tonight. Wilmer Flores continues to show he can hit on this level. Curtis Granderson went to the opposite field for a double late in the game. He’s working the count and spraying the ball. He doesn’t get caught up in trying to hit homers. There was also deGrom, who didn’t have it, but somehow managed to take the Mets through the fifth.

Finally, Hansel Robles escaped from a bases-loaded, no-outs jam without giving up a run.

How can the other shoe fall with those nuggets?

Besides that, Matt Harvey is pitching Saturday, so what could be wrong?

On this date in 1984, 19-year-old Dwight Gooden made his major league debut and earned a 3-2 victory over Houston. Gooden gave up a run on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts. It was his first of 17 victories that year in giving Mets’ fans a glimpse of things to come.

In 31 starts that year, he went 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and threw 218 innings with a league-leading 276 strikeouts and 1.073 WHIP.

GOODEN: Career started on this day. (AP)

Gooden exploded into greatness the following season when he went 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA in amassing 276.2 innings over 35 starts, of which 16 were complete games that included eight shutouts.

For the second straight season he lead the league in strikeouts with 268 strikeouts. He would never win 20 games again or lead the league in strikeouts.

Gooden went 17-6 in 1986, the year the Mets beat Boston in the World Series, but there were also signs of upcoming trouble. He didn’t make it past the fifth inning in either of his two starts against the Red Sox in the World Series, and then was a no-show for the victory parade.

Gooden was later arrested in December of that year in Tampa, Fla., for fighting with police. Soon after, reports surfaced of substance abuse and he tested positive for cocaine during spring training. Gooden entered a rehab center, April 1, and did not make his first start until June 5, and won 15 games that season.

Gooden had several more good seasons for the Mets, but never regained his dominance.

After two positive tests for cocaine, Gooden was suspended for the 1995 season.

Gooden’s 11-year Mets’ career ended with him going 157-85. He signed with the Yankees and threw a no-hitter in 1996. He also played for Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Houston and retired after the 2000 season.